Okay, I don't like leaving 1-star reviews. I've found that they can be the result of a knee-jerk, unchecked emotional reaction from a person who wanted to hurt a business. But this ...well... I've sat on the nature of this review for years. It still holds true as an, "Eek! Methinks not," response (eg: the 1-star Yelp caption). So lets go.
This is my local Target, 3 minutes away from home. It's the most convenient for me, with the runner up being the newer mini Target on Hollywood Way. Ten years ago, this Target used to be the best place to visit for everything one-stop-shop. I'd see lots of people I knew there also shopping. The organization was perfect, and it was just fun shopping experience all-around. These days, I feel like I've entered an establishment that's going-out-of-business or just a neglected store. All over you'll see wide open empty spaces in shelves, with out-of-stock product. The dairy cooler looked to be about 20% stocked. The meats were also frighteningly scarce. The produce section was also very picked over. Moving onto the pet section, it appeared to be also pretty empty. Something is severely wrong when they can't seem to stock their shelves for whatever reason. And what they did have was old. But wait... there's more!
After I was done picking up product from the grocery & pet sections, I decided to look at some home products to price them against other retailers I've been shopping. Not only was Target's prices more, but in many cases more expensive than retail. Off the top of my head, I can think of SodaStream products (I got a SodaStream Source for Christmas). So I was looking at add-ons and essentials. I already know the prices of Target's competitors, so I took a peek to see what they had. I was shocked to see SodaStream products priced above retail. Amazon had them for far less. Even worse, Bed Bath & Beyond was cheaper. Let that sink in... Bed. Bath. Beyond. Cheaper.
As I was heading for the checkout line, my 2yo son started crying suddenly. I was confused as he was holding his finger saying, "ouch." I looked around to see what happened and couldn't figure out what hurt him, although his finger was clearly scratched/scraped. Then he started meddling with a crack in the shopping cart to the left side of the child seat. I was alarmed as the plastic cart was pliable enough for a child to push and trap their finger in. And that cracked plastic gets sharp. My son then motioned to wedge his finger back in, immediately saying "ouch," without seeing it through. I looked to the opposite side of the cart and saw the same crack. So I'm about 99% certain that's what he did - put his finger in a Target neglected hazard. On my way out, I noticed a lot of other damaged carts in the same place. It's definitely a design flaw by whoever designed Target's shopping carts. To their credit, Target corporate seems to have solved the issue with a bracket, as seen on a good handful of shopping carts. But this is just bad since this Target's management needs to get this done on all carts.
When I got home, I noticed the produce I purchased was either turning brown or growing mold. While it could've been found cheaper elsewhere, it wasn't expensive in the grand scheme of things so I didn't worry about bringing it back and had my wife stop off at Smart & Final to replace it. But it's a lesson for me to stop shopping at this Target. Their food section is just bad, let alone prices (even with the Red Card, that I have).
As much as it pains me to say it, Walmart's food section is better leaving it to be the better one-stop-shop for me and my family and is much cheaper. Maybe it's just this Target. I don't know. I haven't been back to the Empire Center location much since they remodeled years ago. So I don't know the state of things there to help me paint a better picture of Target as a whole. But this Target makes it feel like they're on the brink of suffering the same decline K-Mart did. It breaks my heart seeing it happen, but I guess that's the nature of things in the world. read more